


How to (Hopefully) Save the World Through Time Travel

by PickledPotatoPancakes97



Series: A Time Travelers Guide to Not Dying (Again) [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: And Got a Bachlors Degree, BAMF Percy Jackson, But He's Dealing With Them, Panic Attacks, Percy Gets a Second Chance, Percy Has Issues, Percy Jackson has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Percy Jackson is a Mess, Percy Lived Through a LOT OF SHIT, Percy Went to College, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Smart Percy Jackson, This isn't as dark as it sounds, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29086194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PickledPotatoPancakes97/pseuds/PickledPotatoPancakes97
Summary: My name is Percy Jackson and I got to live through the end of the world. I watched my friends die at the hands of the Giants, I saw Gaea rise and the gods fall. I watched as the world burned and died, taking everyone and everything I love with it.The next thing I remember is waking up in my old apartment in a much smaller body. Now I have a second chance, and I’m not going to waste it. This is how to (hopefully) save the world through time travel!
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood
Series: A Time Travelers Guide to Not Dying (Again) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133999
Comments: 68
Kudos: 131





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Everyone.
> 
> This is my first time posting fanfiction, so I apologize if there are any errors. I’ve always loved reading time travel stories, both in the Percy Jackson fandom and in other fandoms, and have decided to try my hand at writing them. 
> 
> I have shifted the Percy Jackson timeline a little bit. Everything is shifted 5 years forward, so instead of Percy being born in 1993, he is born in 1998. That means that The Lightning Thief takes place in 2010. 
> 
> I will be trying to update at least once a week, but that might change.
> 
> Please let me know if you see any errors.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up is that nothing hurt, which was pretty strange because my last memory was being in a battle against Gaea. I had been stabbed in the back and I was bleeding badly and then…I had been stabbed! My hands went to my chest where the wound should be, but there was nothing. No blood, no pain, no injury at all. I was completely fine.

That made no sense! 

I thought back to the battle and saw my friends die all over again. 

Annabeth being stabbed in the stomach by Enceladus. 

Hazel being thrown onto a stone spike by Alcyoneus. 

Frank, covered in flames, collapsing, and not getting back up.

Hephaestus watching Leo fall from the sky. 

Juno’s face as Jason was impaled on Porphyrion’s spear. 

Aphrodite’s scream as Piper was thrown into a pile of boulders and didn’t get up. 

My dad’s face as he saw the tip of a sword sprout from my chest.

And seeing the gods growing weaker, slowly fading away as the world burned down, and I bled out…

I couldn’t help myself, I started crying. That couldn’t be real, they couldn’t be dead. It was a hallucination, or a dream, or something else, as long as it wasn’t real! 

But I knew it was. I had felt the heat of the fires, the smell of smoke. I had felt pain of the sword and the weakness of blood loss.

And now I was here, laying on a bed without a single injury.

Looking around, the room seemed familiar. I know this place, it’s…It’s…It’s my old room! Back from before Mom turned Gabe into the Worlds Ugliest Statue. But that’s not quite right. I’m pretty sure I had posters and things on the walls back then, and my old room was painted a darker blue. This, this is like my old room when I was a kid. Back before I met Grover and found out about gods and monsters, before I made friends and beat Titans and Giants. Before the Giants came back and killed us. Before they burned the world…NO! Bad thoughts! Don’t think about the war and the death. Just focus on figuring out where you are.

I threw my legs over the side of my bed to stand up…and promptly fell off the bed. What happened? It’s like my legs weren’t long enough to touch the ground, but that makes no sense. I’m 5’10, beds aren’t tall enough for that except on Olympus. Maybe that’s it? I imagined my friends dying and the gods fading in the haze of battle and blood loss! We won and now I’m recovering on Olympus in a room that looks like my childhood bedroom.

After getting up off the floor (I really need to talk to the gods about having some normal human sized furniture up here), I went over to the door and opened it, going out into…my old living room? 

My stomach dropped. This can’t be happening. I’m supposed to be on Olympus! I’m supposed to come out of the med bay and see all my friends either healthy or recovering and we can talk about how well the battle went and how we kicked Gaea’s ass. 

But they’re not here. Instead, I’m standing alone in the living room of my old apartment.

I need some water. I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and caught a glimpse of my reflection. I was a child! I looked just like I had when I was a kid, maybe 8ish. I ran out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, my mom always used to keep a calendar on the fridge. On the fridge, staring out as if to taunt me, was the calendar displaying August 2006. 

August 2006!

This can’t be happening! I’m 7 years old, or maybe I’m 8 now? Who knows? Who cares? I’m a child! I died and landed in the past and now I’m a child! 

And I’m never going to see my friends again.

***

It took me a few days to calm down, but after I calmed down, I started thinking. If this was real, and I was really in the past, then I can change things. I can make sure we win against the Titans without so many people dying. I can make sure the Giants are defeated quickly. I can make sure they don’t come back a second time and destroy everything.

You see we won against the Giants the first time, when I was 17, and everyone moved on. I graduated high school and moved to New Rome with Annabeth. We both got into New Rome University and rented an apartment together. Annabeth was studying architecture and I was studying marine biology. We both graduated a few weeks before the gods called us back. 

The gods said that something had gone horribly wrong. Gaea (who’s essence was supposed to be scattered) had managed to hold herself together during the fire that had destroyed her and had reformed. She had woken up in the spring without anyone realizing it and had used the time to resurrect the Giants to their full power. 

We thought the Giants were strong the first time, but that was nothing compared to what they were when they came back. Athena said that they drew strength from Gaea, and Gaea got stronger the longer she was awake. We didn’t stand a chance.

But now I have a chance to do everything better. 

***

So, it turned out that the day I came back to was August 3rd, 2006 and today is August 6th. I’m supposed to be starting 3rd grade this year, but I’m not sure I can handle redoing school; it was bad enough the first time and I think this time it will be worse. At least the first time I could learn new things, now I have already graduated high school, hell, I graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology. Maybe I can talk Mom into letting me be homeschooled, then I can just finish the work quickly and hopefully get to high school level work a year or 2 early, at least then I can take some new courses.

I already got rid of Smelly Gabe. I know his stench kept me safe and hidden from monsters, but I can’t deal with him, he’s a disgusting, abusive waste of space. Mom was already dating Gabe when I arrived, but they weren’t married yet. The day after I got here, he beat me up quite badly. I could have stopped him, after all, I have years of practice dodging, but I realized I could use this. Smelly Gabe ended up leaving some pretty nasty bruises and I immediately went to my mom. I told her that Gabe had beat me up and that at school last year the teachers had told us that if an adult hurts us it is wrong, and we should tell the police. I laid on the guilt, making myself seem sad and confused as to why Gabe would do that. Mom went apoplectic. She dragged Gabe out of their bedroom and told him to get his stuff and get out or she was calling the police. He was gone within the day.

While Gabe was packing went to the library to do some research on different ways of learning and I found one that seemed perfect. For each course, the school would give you a textbook and a workbook, you read the textbook and fill out the workbook with what you learned, then after you finish you turn in the workbook and do an exam. You could do as many or as few courses at a time as you wanted and go as fast or as slow as necessary, though it was recommended that students complete 7-8 courses per year. Best of all, these courses are available in multiple languages, including Greek! I had made sure to print out the information so that I could show my mom this morning.

I brought the papers into the living room where Mom was watching TV.

“Mom.” I called.

She turned to look at me, “Yes Sweety?”

“I want to try home schooling this year.”

“Percy-” 

I interrupted her, I needed to explain. “I know it’s going to be hard, but I think being able to work at my own pace will be better for me, plus it will help me stop being kicked out every year.”

Mom looked sad, “Percy, this would be a big responsibility, are you sure you can handle it?”

I handed my mom a stack of papers I had printed out from the library yesterday. “I did some research, and the schoolboard offers a program where they give you the textbook and a workbook to work through, then you go and take your exams on a designated day at one of the schools in your area. You can go as fast or as slow as you want, they even offer the work in other languages so I can do all my work in Greek.”

“Wait, how would you do your work in Greek Percy?” Mom asked.

‘Oh shit’, I thought to myself, ‘Mom doesn’t know that I know about being a demi-god. How do I explain this?’

“Well, um, see, I noticed a few years ago that I could, uh, sorta read those old mythology books in the living room,” my voice was getting higher and faster the longer I talked, I hated lying to my mom, but I had to. She couldn’t know what was going on, “and, uh, I started trying to learn them more and was teaching myself and now I speak Greek.” I finished in a hurry.

“You learned to speak Greek.” My mom repeated.

“Um, yeah, it’s actually really easy. Much easier than English” I tried to look embarrassed.

My mom suddenly looked tired, like the weight of the world was pressing down on her and I felt guilty. “Ok, how do we find out more about this.”

I showed her the contact information for the lady in charge of the program and mom grabbed the phone to call her. I left the room to give her some privacy. I figured Mom would want to find out as much information as she could about the program, and I shouldn’t distract her. 

Less than an hour later, Mom came into my room.

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Hi Percy,” my mom smiled, “I just got off the phone with Carol, the director of the school program you showed me. She was telling me about how the program works, and I agree with you, I think it would be a good fit, especially if you find it so much easier to learn in Greek.”

“That’s great!” I grabbed my mom’s hand and squeezed it, “I promise I will work hard, and you won’t regret this.”

Mom squeezed my hand back, “Carol will be coming over later this week to so that I can sign some paperwork. She’s also bringing the first four grade 3 course books. Apparently, they give out four books at a time, once you finish them you email the program. They set up an appointment for you to hand in your books and take your exams, then they give you the next set of books. Does that sound alright with you?”

“That sounds perfect.”

***

The meeting with Carol went well, everything was signed, and I got my first set of course books. Because of my (physical) age I wasn’t able to stay home alone, so I ended up doing most of my schoolwork at the library. I sped through the coursework, after all, I was mentally in my 20’s and doing elementary school work, and by the time I was 10 I had started doing high school work. 

After the meeting with Carol, I bought a journal with a lock and wrote down as much as I could remember my first life, even the smallest of details could save a life. I ended up filling 4 journals and kept them in a fireproof lockbox under my bed. I also got a therapist. I couldn’t tell him what was really bothering me (telling your therapist you are a time traveling demi-god from an apocalyptic future is a big no-no), but he was still able to help me. He gave me some strategies to deal with panic attacks and PTSD which were very helpful. I wish I had agreed to go to therapy in my first life.

I spent most of my free time practicing my powers and I also asked my mom to sign me up for martial arts and sword fighting lessons. The martial arts lessons took some getting used to, but I needed to get my body back into shape and the sword fighting lessons were easy once I got some muscle tone back. 

I started practicing with my powers and eventually branched out into trying to use them to clean up the East and Hudson rivers, and eventually the Upper bay as well. I also got into the habit of looking through the junk and wrecks of ships in the bay. I ended up finding a lot of cool things while cleaning and exploring. I found jewelry and gemstones, precious metals and even cash. I tried giving them to my mom. I told her that she could sell them and then keep the money, but she said no and put everything in a savings account for me. She said I would need it when I was older, but I did manage to convince her to keep a bit of money and some of her favorite pieces of jewelry.

When I turned 12, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go to Yancy Academy with Grover due to progressing so fast in my homeschooling. I figured I’d have to find a different way to get to camp, since it was at Yancy that I met Grover and Chiron and fought a Fury, and that was the catalyst to me going to camp. I decided that if I don’t get sent to camp or told I’m a demigod before I turn 12, then I’ll just tell my mother that I figured it out on my own.


	2. Chapter 1, Getting Started

My name is Percy Jackson. I am biologically 12 years old however I’m mentally about 26. 5 years ago, I came back in time from a future so dark that I still have nightmares about it. I saw my friends and family die as the world was destroyed by the goddess Gaea. And now it’s up to me to make sure that that never happens. 

I’ve been trying to finish my schooling as fast as I possibly can these last few years, and I’ve finally graduated high school. You might be thinking, ‘Wow, thats really fast Percy, are you some kind of genius or something?’ Nope, it’s just one of the benefits of time travel. 

I’ve also been considering how much I should change the past. Obviously, I’m going to make some changes, but for everything I do differently, every detail I change, that make my knowledge of the future less firm. I made my schooling go by faster, and I made sure that my mom never married Smelly Gabe, but I’ve gone out of my way to avoid the godly world for years. There have been a few instances where I’ve had to fight several new monsters, and one time I swear that the librarian helping me was Athena, but over all I’ve done a good job of staying out of the world of Greek myths. 

I’ve also kept up with my cleaning and searching of the Hudson and East rivers, and the Upper Bay. I figured that without Gabe around, money might be tight, so while I cleaned the waters, I also searched for anything of value. I ended up finding quite a lot. It turns out that mixed with the filth and garbage is a complete treasure trove. I sold most of the gems and jewelry that I found and saved the cash. I ended up giving some to my mom, but she wouldn’t accept much. She said that I did the work, so I deserved the reward. The money will be perfect for both quests and college, so I’m not complaining. 

I found a variety of demigod supplies in the water as well. I found swords, knives, arrows, and spears made of both celestial bronze and imperial gold. I even found some armor, magical weapons, golden drachmas and denarii and a few sealed packages of ambrosia. I’ve made a few trips around the US in the last few years, hiding little caches of weapons, money and ambrosia for me to grab on quests. 

But now it’s mid-May. It’s been about 4 and a half months since Luke stole Zeus’s Lightning Bolt and Hades Helm of Darkness, and I need to find a way to camp.

See, in my first life I was supposed to go to Yancy Academy, where I would become friends with Grover Underwood, the Satyr. Grover would realize I was a demi-god and call in Chiron, who would pose as my Latin teacher. Then on a field trip I would be attacked by a different teacher, Mrs. Dodds, who was a monster in disguise. Mrs. Dodds attacking me, and me defeating her, helped confirm to Grover and Chiron that I was a powerful demi-god. This led to my mom being kidnapped by Hades on the way to camp a few months later, as Hades thought that I had stolen his Helm of Darkness.

Obviously, none of that happened and I’ve been trying to think of a way to let my mom know I’m ready for camp, but I haven’t been able to think of anything good. My only ideas involve either being attacked by a monster in front of her or just telling her that I figured out I’m a demi-god. I can’t really schedule monster attacks, and I don’t want my mom to have to see that anyways, so I guess I’ll just have to let her know I figured it out.

I decided I should just go into the kitchen and tell her now; it would be better to just come out with it. No beating around the bush and making things confusing. Just explain that I know about gods.

“Hey Mom. So, you know how I have water powers? Well, I figured out that I’m secretly the child of a Greek god and that the monsters in all the myths are real and trying to kill me.” There, that didn’t sound too bad, right?

Mom dropped the plate she was holding, and it shattered on the floor as she turned white as a ghost. 

“W-what?” She whispered.

Ok, maybe that didn’t come out quite right. “Um, I figured out that I’m a demi-god. Like in the myths and stories you like to read.”

“You…You know?” Mom looked like I had just hit her with a baseball bat. “How?”

“Well, the powers helped, but it was mostly the monsters.” I explained, “I’ve been seeing monsters strait out of Greek myths for years, and between that and how I have powers just like the heroes in the stories did, it wasn’t too big a leap to figure out that I was a demi-god.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom look so devastated before. I felt incredibly guilty, I was the one causing her to feel like this.

Mom looked like she wanted to cry “I guess this means that it’s time for you to go to camp.”

“What camp?” I asked. I figured that it was believable for me to discover the myths are real on my own, but I’d have no way of knowing about Camp Half-Blood.

“It’s a summer camp for the children of the gods.” She told me, “Your father talked to me about it, he said that’s it’s the only safe place in the world for demi-gods, but I didn’t want you to go. I thought that if you went, you might stay there, you might never come back home to me.”

“If it’s just a summer camp, then won’t I just come home when the summer ends?” I had always wondered why Mom thought I couldn’t leave. Most campers go home for the school year, the people that stay are usually only staying because they have no where else to go. Either they don’t get along with their parents, or their parents were dead. 

“If a demi-god is strong enough, then they attract too many monsters and it isn’t safe for them to live outside of the camp.” My mom explained.

“But won’t we learn how to fight them?” I asked.

“I asked your father the same thing.” Mom smiled sadly, “He told me that sometimes there are too many monsters and people don’t want to spend the rest of their lives constantly fighting and looking over their shoulders.”

“Oh,” I didn’t know what to say to that, after all, part of the reason I went to New Rome University was so that I wouldn’t have to worry about the monsters. But that was college, kids move out for college, she knew I wouldn’t just leave her to stay at camp, right?

“Go pack your stuff,” Mom told me, “You’ll be there all summer, so make sure you pack everything you’ll need. I’m going to call Chiron and let him know that you will be arriving tonight.”

I grabbed a suitcase from the hall closet and dragged it to my room. 

What should I bring? I figured I should probably just make a list and then check things off. I would definitely need clothes, but how many? What if some of my clothes were destroyed on the quest like last time? Would it be weird to bring 20 pairs of underwear to camp? Do I even own 20 pairs of underwear?  
Eventually I finished my list and it looked like this…  
-4 pairs of Jeans  
-6 t-shirts  
-14 pairs of socks  
-14 pairs of underwear  
-4 sweaters  
-2 pairs of pajamas  
-picture of me and Mom  
-backpack  
-weapons  
-ambrosia  
-cash  
-drachmas  
-gold  
-college textbooks  
-blank notebooks  
-pencil case

Now you may be wondering about the college textbooks. You see, in my first life, I had just completed a degree in Marine Biology. I still wanted to get that degree in this life, but to keep from becoming bored with repeating the same thing, I would also be studying oceanography. 

I had already been accepted to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and would be starting in September. Due to my being a (supposed) child prodigy, the University agreed to let me do most of my courses at home in the States, however for about 1 month at the end of each semester I would have to go to Athens to do any in person work. I’m kind of sad that I won’t get to go to New Rome University again, but I’m not willing to wait 6 more years to get my degrees.

I started gathering everything and packing it into my suitcase and backpack. I decided to grab a few knives in both imperial gold and celestial bronze, an imperial gold sword, and a celestial bronze trident that turned into a necklace for weapons. I figured I would get Riptide before my quest as well which would give me more than enough weapons. I also made sure to pack regular American money, golden drachmas and regular gold (I can always sell it at a pawn shop for extra cash) as well for my quest. My weapons, money and ambrosia went into my backpack with one of my textbooks and my picture. Everything else went into the suitcase. 

It took me almost an hour to finish packing everything. Mom had come in a few minutes ago to see how I was doing, she said we would leave as soon as I finished packing. 

I was just about to bring my stuff out when I realized I had almost forgotten my journal. 

When I had first arrived in the past (after I stopped panicking), I had written down everything that I could remember about my first life. I wrote down when things happened, who was involved, and most importantly, every detail I could remember from all my quests. Last year I had even copied everything from before and during my first summer into a different locked notebook, so that I could take it with me. I know having all this information with me is risky, but I can’t forget anything. If I forgot something and someone died because of it, I’m not sure I could ever forgive myself.

I quickly pulled my lockbox out from under my bed, grabbed the copy of this year’s events and threw it into my backpack while pulling my suitcase into the living room.

“Mom, I’m packed and ready,” I called.

Mom came out of the kitchen while wiping her hands on a towel. “Ok, Percy, let me grab the keys and we can go.” 

Mom looked a bit better than earlier, but still like she might start crying. We got everything into the car and started driving to Camp Half-Blood. 

Perfect, I thought to myself, now it’s time to start changing things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think? Let me know in the comments.


	3. Chapter 2, Camp Half-Blood

It took about 2 hours for me and Mom to get to Camp Half-Blood from our apartment. 

I was worried that something would go wrong on the way there, maybe not being hit by lightning and chased by the minotaur wrong, but I fully expected for some monster to find us. But everything seemed to be going perfectly. I’m me, Percy freaking Jackson, son of Poseidon extraordinaire, nothing ever goes perfectly when I’m around. It’s like a curse, if anything can go wrong, it will. 

And yet, nothing happened.

When we got to camp, I grabbed my backpack while my mom helped unload my suitcase. Right as we were walking over to Thalia’s pine tree, Chiron appeared, walking over the crest of the hill in all his centaur glory. Mom walked over to him and set my suitcase down. 

“Percy, this is Chiron. He runs the camp.” My mom introduced.

“Nice to meet you in person Sally,” Chiron turned to me, “and you must be Percy.”

I nodded; I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t really considered how I would react to seeing the people I’d lost. Chiron was here, alive and in person, but he wasn’t the Chiron I knew. My Chiron was dead, he died when the Giants came back and burned Camp Half-Blood to the ground.

I couldn’t stop myself from remembering how it happened. The camp engulphed in flames, the cabins collapsing, the bodies of those we couldn’t save laying on the ground, the big house collapsing inward, burying the injured in piles of rubble as they screamed and died while we tried to get to them.

I felt a hand on my arm.

“Percy,” my mother said, it sounded like she had called my name a few times already. “Is everything alright honey?”

“Yah, everything’s fine.” I assured her, I was suddenly exhausted and just wanted to go to my cabin. “It’s nice to meet you Chiron, can I go and lay down?”

“Of course, I’ll take you to the Hermes cabin and you can get settled in.” Chiron put a hand on my shoulder and started guiding me into the camp. The Hermes Cabin? No, I need to be in Cabin 3, I needed to be alone and calm down, I needed the sound of the ocean and the smell of saltwater. I waved goodbye to my mom as we were walking away, but it was half-hearted at best, I didn’t know what to do, I just wanted to be back in Cabin 3. I needed to calm down and relax, I was freaking out.

“Shouldn’t I be in my dad’s cabin?” I asked, sounding slightly strained. I couldn’t deal with the people and crowds of Cabin 11, I needed to be in Cabin 3, I needed somewhere quiet and alone to calm down and think.

Chiron looked a bit uncomfortable. “Well, that’s complicated. Eventually most campers are placed in the cabin of their parent, but first their parent needs to claim them.” 

“My dad’s Poseidon.” I argued, “I should be in his cabin.” 

A second later a glowing green trident appeared above my head.

“Well then, I guess it’s determined. You are officially claimed as a child of Poseidon.” Chiron looked even more uncomfortable, “I’ll take you to your cabin now.”

***

I didn’t even bother looking around as Chiron brought me to Cabin 3. I was scared that I would have another flashback. I hadn’t had one in over a year, I thought I was over them.

When we got to Cabin 3, I immediately started putting my stuff away and trying to calm down. I didn’t even notice Chiron leave. Clothes went in the dresser, books on the bookshelf, and weapons scattered throughout. I wasn’t even thinking about it, but when I finished putting everything away, I looked around the room and realized that I had left Tysons side empty. 

Tyson, my wonderful, amazing brother, who died in the war. I didn’t see it personally, but I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse. All I know is that when the survivors of Camp Half-Blood met up with the gods, dad pulled me aside. He told me that his palace had been attacked and many of the cyclopes had perished, including Tyson.

That’s when I realized, I was in the Poseidon Cabin. I had been so stressed from my flashback that I told Chiron that Poseidon was my father! I was claimed! This wasn’t how anything was supposed to go. I was supposed to come to camp and stay in the Hermes cabin. I was supposed to be claimed during capture the flag! How was I going to get my quest now? How was I supposed to get Zeus’s Lightning Bolt and Hades Helm back and stop world war 3? How was I supposed to stop Luke from bringing the Titans back even earlier and destroying the world?

Everything was falling apart. I couldn’t do this! I just wanted my friends. I wanted Annabeth and Grover, Frank and Hazel, Leo and Piper and Jason and Thalia and Nico! 

But I couldn’t have them. My friends were gone, and I was never going to see them again! At least not the versions that I know. I’m going to spend the rest of my life surrounded by doppelgängers and look-alikes of the people I love most in the world and there’s nothing I can do about it!

I just wanted to scream! 

Why was this happening? What did I do?

I felt moisture on my cheeks and realized I was crying. I was alive and crying while everyone and everything I had ever cared about was dead. My world was dead. I would never see my real family again.

I crawled into bed and fell asleep sobbing.

***

I woke up to a knock on the door.

“Be there in a minute.” I called out.

I went into the bathroom to quickly wash my face, since it felt all crusty and gross from crying. That’s when I realized that I had forgot to pack any toiletries. I had tried to remember everything, I had even made a list, but I never added toiletries to it. I guess I would just have to buy some from the camp store tonight. This day just kept getting worse and worse.

I walked over to my cabin door to see who had knock and came face to face with Luke Castellan.

“Hey, are you ok?” Luke asked, he looked concerned.

I must have been ghost white. I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t thought about what it would be like to face Luke again. Part of me had always blamed him for everything, after all, Luke brought back Kronos and started the Titan war. Without the Titan war, the Giants may never have returned, Gaea may never have woken up, my world might still be there! I know he didn’t know how bad things would get, I know that he betrayed Kronos and saved us, I know we forgave him, but that was before. Before Gaea and the Giants tried to destroy the gods. Before Gaea came back again, even stronger this time. Before the world burned. Before Olympus fell. Before I lost everything…

I tried to calm myself down. I was panicking again, and I needed to focus. This Luke hasn’t done any of that yet. The Titans were still imprisoned, the Giants were still in Tartarus and Gaea was still asleep. This Luke was innocent, Hades, this Luke was younger than me!

‘He still stole the weapons,’ my mind whispered, ‘he still framed you.’

I told my mind to shut up. I needed to stay calm and act normal.

“Oh, hi L-stranger. I’m good, really! Never been better, just a bit tired.” I laughed nervously; I had almost called him Luke. Hopefully he didn’t catch that, we had never met in this timeline and I shouldn’t have known his name yet. 

“Um, ok. Chiron asked me to come and get you for dinner.” Now Luke was looking at me like I was crazy, and he was probably right.

“I’m Luke, by the way,” he introduced himself, “Son of Hermes and counselor of Cabin 11.”

“I’m Percy, uh, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.” I didn’t know how to talk to this younger Luke, I just wanted him to leave.

Luke grabbed my arm and I jumped, yanking it back.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Luke asked.

“Yup, I’m fine,” I assured him, “I just don’t like being touched unexpectedly, you said there was dinner?”

“Yah, sure,” Luke didn’t look very convinced, but he didn’t question me any further while we walked to the dining pavilion.

I wasn’t lying about not liking being touched unexpectedly. I’m pretty sure I have PTSD from the wars, but I can’t really talk to anyone about it. I can’t just go up to a therapist and tell them about my past life as a time traveling demi-god who lived through three wars and the apocalypse. They’d think I was crazier than I am and lock me in a mental hospital. I can’t save the world from a mental ward. And it’s not like I had told anybody what happened. They’d think I was crazy, or worse, they’d believe me and make me tell the gods. The gods would never believe me, I mean look how long it took for them to acknowledge that Kronos was rising, and they had proof for that!

When we got to the dining pavilion Luke left me at the Poseidon table and went to sit with his cabin mates. The nymphs brought over some trays of food and I made sure to get a decent amount, I may not be very hungry, but I’m going to need the energy, the constant training at camp burns a ton of calories.

***

After dinner Chiron called for me to come with him.

“Are you feeling a bit better this evening, Percy?” He asked me, as we were walking towards the Big House.

“I guess,” I said, I really was feeling a bit better, but every time I looked around and saw something familiar, I was back in my mind, seeing camp destroyed and burning in my memories. It was taking everything I had to keep from panicking.

“Well, this is the Big House,” Chiron continued, “it’s where I and Mr. D stay, it also houses the infirmary, in case anyone gets injured, and the rec room, where the cabin councilors meet. You’ve already seen the dining pavilion and found your cabin. I’ll have someone show you around the rest of camp. I think Luke is-”

“No.” I interrupted. I couldn’t deal with Luke, not right now, “I mean, uh, isn’t there anyone else, or, like, someone my age?” 

Chiron looked concerned, “Is everything alright, Percy? Did Luke do something to upset you?”

“N-no,” I stuttered, “He didn’t do anything, I just…I wanted to meet more people, you know, get to know everyone. Maybe then I can settle in better.” 

That sounded believable, right? I just wanted to get to know everyone, settle in, just like a normal camper. There was nothing wrong with that.

“Alright Percy,” Chiron seemed to buy my excuse, “let me go and see if anyone else is available, Mr. D, our camp director, will be here soon.”

After a few minutes, I heard Mr. D coming up the porch steps.

“Ah, you must be the new brat, Peter Johnson,” Mr. D greeted, “Chiron said you would be in here.”

“Ah, it’s Percy Jackson, sir,” I said. I knew Mr. D got our names wrong on purpose, but I figured I should keep up appearances. I was supposed to be a normal Demigod who had never been to camp or met any of these people.

“Well then, Perry, I guess I should say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, do try not to die horribly while here, it causes far too much paperwork. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gong to go take a nap.” And with that, he was gone.

Now, in all honesty, it was actually really good to see Mr. D again. Until my spontaneous adventure to the past, I was used to seeing him every year when I came to camp. I had even kept coming to Camp Half-Blood when I was in college, though sometimes just for a short visit.

Chiron came back in while I was thinking.

“Mr. D isn’t here with you?” He asked.

I shrugged, “No, he said that he was going to take a nap and to try to not die horribly.”

“Ah, well, I’m sure Mr. D is just tired.” Chiron assured me, while leading me back outside, “Now I’ve found someone else to show you around the camp.”

I froze in my tracks. There, standing on the porch, was Annabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a bit of a darker chapter, what did you guys think? 
> 
> Let me know in the comments, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.


	4. Chapter 3, Wise Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few notes before you guys get started. 
> 
> First, thank you guys so much for reading this story. I really wasn't expecting to have this many people enjoying the story.
> 
> Second, I'm in college right now, so I often don't have much time to write durring the week, that means that most updates will happen on the weekend. I plan on posting 1-2 chapters most weekends, there might be some weeks where there are 3 or more chapters, and there might be some weeks where there is only 1 chapter. I'm not sure how much time I will have for writing around exam time, but I will try and keep you guys updated on whats happening.
> 
> Third, I am still learning how to use AO3 and it is taking some getting used to. I'm also trying to get used to using the chapter notes and am hoping to interact a bit more using them in the future.

Annabeth spent the rest of the evening showing me around camp. 

It was a good thing I already knew where everything was, because I didn’t remember much of the tour. I kept alternating between staring at her and thinking, and worried that I was going to start panicking again. I mean, this is Annabeth, my best friend who I saw die! If I were going to have a panic attack from seeing anyone, you’d think it would be her. 

But I wasn’t freaking out, I actually felt relieved. Maybe it was because I had spent so much time thinking about what it would be like to see Annabeth again, or maybe I just didn’t have the energy to freak out any more today. I didn’t know, and right now, I didn’t care.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that!” Annabeth finally snapped.

“Like what?” I looked away guiltily, realizing that my staring might be coming of as creepy.

“Like you know me,” Annabeth said, in a frustrated tone, “Or maybe like you’re scared of me. It seems to keep changing. One minute you’re looking at me like I’m your best friend, the next you’re staring at me like I’m a monster.”

“I’m not looking at you like that,” I tried to defend, but I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t trying to, but my head was so mixed up and confused right now, that I really couldn’t be sure.

“You are, and it makes no sense. We’ve never met, you don’t have any reason to be scared of me, and we’re not friends.” 

I could feel my face fall, and I guess Annabeth realized how that must have sounded because a second later she tried to continue, “I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right. I just meant that we’re strangers, we don’t know each other. But I guess we could be friends if you want?”

“I think that would be perfect.” I grinned as we continued the tour.

***

“Hey, Annabeth.” I heard a familiar voice call as Annabeth was showing me the beach.

I turned to look and saw Grover trotting up to us and couldn’t help but smiling.

Annabeth smiled, “Hi Grover.”

I was so happy I was seeing Grover as well! I had been worried about how we would meet in this timeline, without Grover watching over me at Yancy. I had been considering just walking around looking for him, and then going over and introducing myself and starting a conversation when I found him, but I guess that wasn’t necessary.

“Hi, I’m Percy,” I stuck my hand out.

“Nice to meet you Percy, I’m Grover.” Grover reached over and shook my hand. Gods he was so young, both him and Annabeth.

“Grover’s a satyr,” Annabeth explained, “They usually find demigods in schools and bring them to camp, I’m kind of surprised that one never found you.”

“I was homeschooled,” I said, “so unless satyrs were hanging around my mom’s apartment or the library, they wouldn’t have seen me.”

In actuality, I had been trying to dodge satyrs for years, I didn’t want to come to camp to early and possibly screw the timeline up too badly. I needed to be able to predict things, at least for the first few years of the war. I mean what would have happened if I had come to camp when I was 9 and that caused Kronos to change his plans? If he changed his plans too much, then all my future knowledge would be useless. 

All this lying and dodging the truth was really starting to take its toll on me.

“Oh,” Grover said, “I guess you must have just missed any satyrs, they usually keep an eye on the library for children of Athena, like Annabeth here.”

“Ya, must have, can we finish up the tour,” I asked, “I’m pretty tired and was hoping to go to bed early.”

Annabeth and Grover both looked a bit concerned, but we finished the tour quickly and they left me at my cabin to get ready for bed.

***

I barely slept that night. I had horrible nightmares, I saw Zeus and Poseidon fighting, wrestling like children as the lightning crashed and the ground shook. I saw Kronos, getting stronger in the pit, trying to convince me to help him rise. Worst of all, I saw my last life. I got to re-watch, for the who-knows-how-many-hundredth time, the end of my world. The fall of the gods, the deaths of my friends. 

I couldn’t do this anymore. I needed to talk to someone. I needed to tell someone everything. But who? Could I tell Annabeth and Grover? Our relationships might be different this time, maybe they don’t know me as well, maybe we aren’t as close. But they would believe me, right? 

They had to.

As soon as the sun had risen, I went to the Athena cabin to find Annabeth. I knocked on the door and waited for her to answer, only to be greeted by one of her siblings, who wasn’t looking so happy.

“Sorry for waking you up,” I apologized, realizing that it wasn’t even 7am yet, “But I really need to talk to Annabeth.”

“And it couldn’t wait until after breakfast,” Annabeth’s brother asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“No, sorry. It’s important, could you send her out?” He shut the door, hopefully to go and wake up Annabeth.

A few minutes later, Annabeth came out of her cabin, looking less than pleased.

“What do you want Percy? It’s not even 7am yet.” Annabeth asked, sounding even less pleased than she looked.

“Before I can explain, we need to find Grover,” I explained, “do you know where he is?”

“Yes,” Annabeth grumbled, “Stay here, I’ll go get him.”

“Wait,” I said, “Lets just meet at the beach, I’ll get us some coffee and you can get Grover.”

“Fine,” Annabeth ran off into the forest.

I wandered over to the kitchen and asked one of the nymphs for a large thermos of coffee and 3 mugs and brought them over to the beach. When I got there Annabeth and Grover were already waiting. I handed them each a mug and poured the coffee.

Grover sighed after taking a sip, “So what do you need help with Perce?”

“It’s not so much something I need help with, as it’s something I need to tell you guys.” I shifted uncomfortably.

Annabeth looked more alert and a bit concerned by how I was acting. “I’m sure whatever it is, we can figure it out.”

“I’m not sure it CAN be figured out; I mean I guess it can. I understand what happened, maybe not how or why, but I get the WHAT.” I was rambling again, this has been happening more often lately, especially when I was stressed, and boy was I stressed right now. I just don’t know how to explain. I mean, it’s so complicated, and it makes no sense.”

“Just start from the beginning,” Annabeth said, in a calming voice.

I didn’t know how to explain, so I figured I should go with the old Percy classic of just being blunt.

I took a deep breath, and started to explain, “I time travelled to the past and now I’m living my life over again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think? I know this was a bit of a shorter chapter, but Chapter 4 will be out either tonight or tomorrow.
> 
> Let me know what you thought in the comments!


	5. Chapter 4, The Past Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the other chapter I promised, hopefully you guys love it.

“I time travelled to the past and now I’m living my life over again.”

“You what!?!” Annabeth and Grover both shouted.

“Just-just let me explain, please.” I tried to calm them down.

“The first time I didn’t know about anything until I was 12. My mom knew about the gods and monsters and everything, Dad explained it to her. When I was 12, I was sent to a boarding school in rural New York, where I ended up meeting Grover. Grover realized that I was a powerful demigod quickly and called in Chiron; they kept an eye on me throughout the year. Towards the end of the school year one of the other teachers, who was a monster in disguise, attacked me. Chiron saw and threw me a sword disguised as a pen, which I used to kill the monster-”

“Wait, what kind of monster?” Annabeth interrupted.

“Annabeth,” Grover whispered, “He said not to interrupt.”

“Well, it might be important,” Annabeth shrugged, but she looked kind of embarrassed.

“It’s fine, it was a, um, like a furry, but with less R’s,” I explained, ignoring their twin gasps of horror, “So, after I killed her, I thought I was going crazy. Almost everyone was acting like she had never existed cause of the mist, and I had no idea what was going on, the only reason I was sure something had happened was because Grover is such a bad liar.”

“Hey,” Grover exclaimed, “I’m not that bad.”

Annabeth nudged him, “Yes you are, and what happened to not interrupting.”

“Sorry.”

I continued, “So, I ended up going back into the city with Grover, and while we were driving the bus broke down and everyone had to get off. Once we were off, I noticed a fruit stand across the road with some old ladies knitting, then one of the ladies snipped the yarn. It turned out that those were the Fates and Grover was freaking out and dragged me back onto the bus.”

I glanced at Annabeth and Grover and noticed that their eyes had gotten really big.

“Grover started acting weird after that and was freaking me out, so I ditched him at the bus stop and got a cab home. Last time my mom had married this awful, abusive mortal guy to try and hide my scent-”

“Did she marry him this time?” Annabeth asked, looking concerned.

“No, I made sure she never had to.” I assured her, “Ok, after that me and Mom went on vacation to Montauk, which is actually really close to Camp Half-Blood, by the way. Then Grover showed up in the middle of the night, cause the, um, bull man was after me.”

“The ‘bull man’? Really Seaweed Brain? I know you shouldn’t use their names, but that’s ridiculous.” Annabeth was smiling.

I was grinning so broadly that I thought my cheeks would split. “You called me Seaweed Brain.”

“Well, with the way you are describing things, your brain may as well be made of Seaweed.” Annabeth blushed.

“Sorry,” I apologized, “It’s just that, Seaweed Brain was your nickname in the last timeline.”

Grover was smiling as well, “Guess your pretty consistent across timelines, huh Annabeth.”

She raised an eyebrow “Or Percy’s just always an idiot.”

“Or that.”

“ANYWAYS,” I loudly interrupted, “We all headed for camp, but the bull man caught up and the car got hit by lightning. Grover ended up being knocked out and Mom was caught by the bull man and turned into gold dust. I thought she was dead and got pretty upset and managed to kill him.”

“Blah-ha-ha, your mom didn’t die, right?” Grover asked.

“It didn’t sound like she died, dead people don’t explode into dust, unless they are monsters.” Annabeth mused, then she seemed to realize she was talking about my mom, “I mean, I’m so sorry Percy.”

I waved her away, “It’s fine, she was alive, just being held prisoner by Ha…I mean, our friend downstairs.”

“Our ‘friend downstairs,” Grover giggled, he looked like he was trying to burst into laughter until Annabeth smacked his arm.

I just sighed, I was friends with children, quite literally right now, “I woke up a few days later, at camp. I met Mr. D, and Chiron told me about the gods being real, then started showing me around camp. Nothing overly exciting happened, I blew up the toilets, I ended up in Cabin 11, I got to know you, Annabeth, and I just got used to camp. Then Capture the Flag happened-”

“Wait, you did what with the toilets?” Grover interrupted, again.

I sighed, “Clarisse and some of her siblings tried to give me a swirly. I made the toilets explode and soak them all.”

Annabeth and Grover looked like they were going to start laughing again, so I moved on, “At Capture the Flag a Hellhound got in and attacked me, I was fine but ended up being claimed. I moved to Cabin 3 that night. The next morning, you came to get me, Grover, and brought me to the Big House. Chiron told us that I was being accused of stealing Zeu-I mean, the Master Bolt and-”

“The Master Bolt was stolen?” Grover exclaimed.

“Yup, the Helm of Darkness too, though I didn’t know that at the time.” I continued, ignoring Annabeth’s mutterings and Grover’s nervous looks. “So, I was offered a quest to clear my name, and I, obviously, said yes. I got the prophesy and you both volunteered to go with me.”

“Do you remember what the prophesy said?” Annabeth asked.

“I have it written down in a notebook, back in my cabin,” I said, “But I’m not sure if it will be the same this time, some important things have changed.”

“Like what?” She asked.

“Like my mom isn’t being used as a hostage. In the original prophesy, there was a line about that. I’ll get you the old prophesy later.” I assured Annabeth. “We only had, like, a week and a half to finish the quest, cause the Bolt had to be returned by the Summer Solstice, so we ended up leaving for the quest the next morning. We were attacked by all 3 furries-”

“Can we please just call them Kindly Ones?” Annabeth asked, “Furries sounds ridiculous.”

“Fine,” I agreed, “But I like furries better. So, we were attacked by all 3 Kindly Ones, lost most of our supplies, killed Medu-the gorgon that turns people to stone and camped a clearing in the woods.”

Annabeth gaped at me while Grover whimpered. 

“All 3 Kindly Ones, and a Gorgon?” she asked.

“And that was just the first day,” I said cheerfully. “The next morning, we got on a train to Denver. It had a stop in St. Louis, so we went to see the St. Louis Arch, and got attacked by more monsters. This time it was the anteater and her son, and I fell through a hole in the side of the Arch and into the Mississippi River.”

“Uh, Percy, what do you mean ‘the anteater and her son’?” Grover asked.

“Oh, um, Annabeth called her the Mother of All Monsters,” I tried explaining, “there’s an anteater named after her, and her son, the giant shapeshifting, fire breathing dog thing.”

“Wait, do you mean Echidna and Chimera?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes, them,” I confirmed, “After that, we got back on the train and didn’t have any trouble until we got to Denver. In Denver, the War God sent us on a side quest to get his shield, I found out about Annabeth’s fear of spiders,” Annabeth shivered, “We got a backpack of stuff, for doing the quest, and a ride to Los Vegas.”

“What was in the backpack?” Annabeth seemed curious.

“Well, there wasn’t really much,” I tried to remember what had been in there, “I think there was some money, and some Oreo’s, but I don’t remember what else. The big thing, was that the backpack was made to hold the Master Bolt, so once we were in the Underworld, it would appear.”

“Wait,” Grover interrupted again, “Why were we going to the Underworld?”

“Oh, right,” I guess I had forgotten to explain that part. “Chiron thought that our friend downstairs had stolen the bolt so that he could take over the world or something, plus the prophesy had said we would go West, so, to the Underworld we went.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Annabeth murmured, “Our, um, friend downstairs could benefit from a war. It will definitely get him more subjects.”

“Uh, maybe don’t say that to him, we thought that last time, and it turns out that he really doesn’t. Our neighbour down under doesn’t want or need more people, he actually got really angry when we suggested it.” I explained, “Anyways, after the side quest for our friendly neighbourhood war god, we ended up in Las Vegas and stayed in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Time passes differently in the Casino, you could stay for a few weeks and come out years or even decades later, our few hours there turned out to be 5 days. By the time we got out, we only had 1 day left to complete the quest. We ended up getting a cab to Santa Monica Pier-”

“The entrance to the Underworld is at the Santa Monica Pier?” Grover seemed confused.

I sighed, looks like I forgot to explain things again, “No, the entrance to the Underworld, or at least the one we were using, is in Los Angele’s. We had to stop at the pier first, cause Dad’s messenger asked me to go there.”

“What messenger,” Annabeth asked, “And how on earth did you get a cab from Las Vegas to Los Angeles? It’s got to be over 250 miles?”

“Well, the messenger came to me when I was stuck in the Mississippi River, and as for the cab, the Lotus Hotel and Casino had these casino debit card things so that you could play the games. You thought they might work in cabs, and they did.”

“You really need to remember these details, Percy. They could be important.” Annabeth scolded.

“I know they could,” I said, “That’s why I have everything written down already in journals. I made sure I put down every little detail I could remember, no matter how small. I just don’t have them with me right now. Anyways, we got some pearls from a nereid and then started looking for the entrance to the underworld. We ended up getting caught by a monster while wandering the city. After we killed him, we found a map to the Underworld in his lair, turns out that the entrance to the Underworld is a place called DOA Recording Studios. It took a bit of wandering, but eventually we found it. We bribed Charon to let us across with Drachmas and we gave Cerberus a rubber ball-”

“A red rubber ball,” Grover asked, incredulously.

“Yup, turns out he likes to play fetch.,” I smiled, remembering what a sweet dog he was.

Both Annabeth and Grover were looking at me strangely now. I guess I could understand why, not only had they not met Cerberus, but they also hadn’t seen Cerberus rolling around getting a belly rub from Nico. He looked like this big scary dog, but it’s really hard to take him seriously when you knew he was just a giant puppy inside.

I continued, “While we were looking for Ha-the Lord of the Dead’s palace, Grover’s shoes sprouted wings and started flying-”

“Grover’s shoes just sprouted wings?” Annabeth seemed sceptical.

Shit, I thought. They don’t know that Luke betrayed them, how do I explain this? “Oh, um, well, they were flying shoes, Luke gave them to me to help on the quest, but they were actually cursed to drag me and the Master Bolt to Tartarus.”

Annabeth looked like I had slapped her “Luke would never do that!”

“I’m sorry Annabeth, but-” I tried to explain.

“NO. That doesn’t make any sense,” I could tell that Annabeth was becoming very angry, “Why would he do-”

“Because he was trying to raise Kronos!” I practically shouted. “In the last timeline Luke raised the Titans and started one of the worst wars in history! And that war led to another war and another war and eventually it destroyed my world!”

“But Luke wouldn’t do that; he would never betray the gods! He wouldn’t try and raise the Titans!” Annabeth screamed.

I tried to calm down and reason with her, “Look, Annabeth. I know it’s hard to believe-”

“Hard to believe? Hard to believe! It’s impossible to believe! Luke loves camp, he loves me, he wouldn’t abandon everything we have here!” 

“I’m sorry Annabeth, but I swear on the River Styx that everything I just told you about the future is the truth.” I heard thunder rumble, sealing my oath, and proving that everything I had just said was true.

Annabeth started crying, “Why would he do this? He said we were family.”

“He’s been different since Thalia, different since his quest,” Grover said quietly, “Annabeth, I know it’s hard to believe, but he’s been so angry, talking about how the gods need to pay.”

“I-I know,” Annabeth hiccupped, “And Percy swore on the Styx. If he was lying, he’d have been struck down by now. It’s just, it’s Luke.”

“Ok, Percy,” Grover said, “Finish the quest, then we should go to breakfast.”

I tried to finish up with the quest quickly. I explained how we had confronted Hades and been accused of stealing his Helm, how we had found the Master Bolt in the backpack and realised that Ares had set us up. Then I told them about the fight with Ares and me going to Olympus to return the Bolt.

“After the quest we went back to camp. Everything had seemed fine, but I had been nervous, cause the prophesy hadn’t been fulfilled, it said we would be betrayed by a friend.” I explained.

“And that friend was Luke,” Annabeth said hollowly.

“And that was Luke,” I agreed, “One day, at the end of the summer, he brought me out into the woods, he told me about how horrible the gods were, how they needed to be torn down, and that’s when I figured out that he was the thief. I confronted him and he asked me to join him, said if I didn’t, that he’d kill me. I said no.”

“What did he do?” Grover whispered.

“He summoned a Pit Scorpion,” I winced, even decades later, I still remembered how it had felt, how scared I was that I would die and never be found, “Luke disappeared, and it stung me. I tried to heal myself with water, but it didn’t work, some nymphs had helped get me to Chiron and he healed me. I woke up a few days later and explained what had happened to Chiron and Mr. D.”

“Ok, that’s, wow,” Grover said, “Lets just go to breakfast, I’ll talk to you later Percy.”

Grover took Annabeth’s hand and let her to the dining pavilion. I couldn’t help wondering whether or not I had just screwed everything up.

***

The rest of the day seemed to drag. I went to all my meals and activities, but I couldn’t help thinking I might have made a huge mistake. Maybe Annabeth and Grover were going to reject me. After all, here I was, this stranger claiming that I was a time traveller and that one of their closest friends was a traitor. Oath on the Styx or not, it sounded unbelievable.

I was walking back to my cabin after dinner when I heard someone call my name. I looked over and saw Annabeth coming up to me.

“Meet me and Grover on the beach at 6:30 tomorrow morning,” She said, “Then you’re going to explain everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love it, hate it? Please comment and tell me your thoughts!
> 
> Next chapter is going to have Annabeth and Grover asking a whole lot of questions, and a bit more information about what Percy has been up to since he came to the past.


	6. Chapter 5, I Get Questioned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, I ended up changing something in the beginning of chapter 1. I had originally put that Jupiter was the one who saw Jason die, but I had meant to put Juno. I didn't notice that until I was rereading it just now, but it has been fixed.
> 
> Anyways, onto the chapter.

I woke up at 6am, so that I could meet Grover and Annabeth out at the beach by 6:30. I had actually slept really well and wasn’t even tired. You’d think I would have been awake all night, stressing about what they would say, but I was relaxed. If Annabeth and Grover were going to reject me, they would have done it by now. So clearly, they believed everything I had told them. I think.

I got to the beach by 6:25am and Annabeth was already there. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” She said, “Grover should be here any minute.”

Just as she was saying that Grover ran up.

“Hey guys,” He said as he jogged over, “How did everyone sleep?”

“We slept fine,” Annabeth answered for the both of us, then she turned to me, “Now Percy, you’re from the future, right? I have some questions for you.”

“Ok, sure,” I shrugged, I had expected Annabeth to come at me with enough questions to fill a book, and sure enough, she immediately brought out a notebook that she must have spent hours thinking of questions to fill. “One thing, before we start, I need you guys to swear on the River Styx that you won’t tell anyone about this without my permissions. You can’t tell the gods, or other people at camp or anyone, ok?”

“You don’t want to tell the gods?” Annabeth looked confused, “Why? They could help, they could-”

“They won’t,” I interrupted, “It took years for them to believe that the Titans were rising, and even when Zeus was given proof, he dismissed it. They wouldn’t even start preparing until we were already in the middle of the war.”

“Ok,” Grover said nervously, “I swear on the Styx that I won’t tell anyone about the information you give me about the future.”

We both looked at Annabeth.

“Fine,” She huffed, “I swear on the River Styx that I won’t reveal any information Percy gives me about the future without his permission.”

“Thanks guys,” I said, I was relieved that they had agreed so easily, I had been concerned that they would insist on telling people and revealing everything to the Olympian Council.

“Now, for some of my questions,” Annabeth started reading from her book, “How old were you before you came back? What was your old life like? You said we were friends; did you mean regular friends or, like, boyfriend and girlfriend? How did you come back? When did you come back? How did you know that you came back in time? What have you been doing since you came back? How are you going to change the future? What makes you think that you won’t screw everything up even worse than it originally was-”

“WAIT!” I shouted, “Annabeth, you’re talking to fast, I can’t keep up. Ok, um, I was 22 before I came back, you and I had just graduated college and you had gotten a degree in architecture, I got one in marine biology. We were living together, but we weren’t dating. I mean we had dated in the past, but we had decided that we would be better as friends. You were actually trying to get me to ask out one of our other friends. I had told you I had a crush on him, and you and Piper had been trying to convince me that he liked me as well.” My face had been turning red thinking about this when I heard the sound of a pen scratching on paper. 

“Wait, are you writing this down?” I asked incredulously.

“Of course,” Annabeth replied, “I don’t want to forget anything. Who’s Piper?”

“Oh, um, Piper’s a daughter of Aphrodite, but she doesn’t come to camp for about 4 more years.” I explained. I tried to remember the rest of the questions, “Um, I don’t know how I came back, but I came back to just before I turned 8. I was pretty sure I came back in time, cause I was alive, and I wasn’t in the Underworld. I had actually died just before I came back, or well, I think I died, I got stabbed through the chest and I’m pretty sure it was fatal, and even if it wasn’t, the world was ending and the gods were fading, so I would have died anyways.”

I glanced over and Annabeth and Grover both looked terrified.

“The world ended?” Grover asked, looking ill, “The gods faded?”

“I think that you should start from the beginning, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said.

“Starting from the beginning would take a really lone time, I mean we’re talking about 3 wars over 10 years,” I tried to explain, “Though I guess the last one wasn’t very long.”

“3 wars?” Annabeth looked shaken, “Right, ok, there were 3 wars, what were they?”

“The first one was the Titan war, which we won” I said, “After that we had the second, Giant war, we won that as well. After that we had a few years of peace, then the Giants came back again.”

“That’s the one you lost,” Grover whispered.

“That’s the one we lost,” I confirmed.

“Lets, um, lets start from the beginning of this life,” Annabeth sounded unsure of herself, “We can go over what happened last time after. So, what have you been doing since you came back?”

I sighed, this was a safer topic, I was worried about how Annabeth and Grover were going to react to learning more about the horrors that happened in the future. No, the past, it wasn’t the future anymore and it never would be. “Well, as I said, I came back just before I turned 8, and then spent the next week-ish panicking and not sure what was real. Eventually I decided that what I was seeing must be real, and that I had really traveled back in time. I didn’t want to have to go through school again, or at least not as slowly as I had originally, so I looked into ways around that. I ended up doing homeschooling and going at my own pace; so really quickly.”

Grover raised his hand and asked, “Why really quickly?”

“Well, I had already graduated in my last life, so I knew everything I would learn already.” I tried to explain, “I didn’t have the patience to redo everything at the normal pace, so I just got done quickly. I actually graduated high school this year, I’m going to university in September.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” Annabeth pointed out.

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Um, I don’t think so… I mean, I didn’t check, but I don’t think graduating early due to time travel is against any rules…” I trailed off.

“Anyways,” I continued, “Once I got back and got everything figured out for school, I started writing down everything I could remember from my last life. I have literally dozens of journals in a safe at home filled with information. I put everything from details of every quest I had been on, to every demigod, god, titan, giant, mortal, legacy and monster I could ever remember meeting and as many details about them as I could think of. I spent weeks trying to make sure I put down as much information as I could, and then I got to spend the next month trying to organize it all.”

“What’s a legacy?” Annabeth interrupted.

“Oh, right,” I had forgotten that Annabeth and Grover wouldn’t know about legacies, after all, they were mostly Roman. “Um, legacies are the children of demigods and descendants of the gods. I’ll explain more about them later, cause there’s a lot of background stuff you’ll need to know to understand and they don’t really come into the picture till after the Titan war.”

“OK, I guess. But you’ve got the information all organized?” Annabeth asked, “It’s all neat and orderly, you can find anything you need?”

“Yup, I used labels and everything,” I assured her, “After I got everything written down, I realized that without Gabe my mom was really struggling to pay the bills.”

“Gabe, that was your step-dad in your first life, right?” Grover asked, “The abusive one you made your mom get rid of?”

“That’s him,” I confirmed, “I hadn’t realized how much trouble Mom was having with the bills last time, I didn’t even consider that Gabe might have helped with them, but it turns out that he did. So, I decided to start thinking of ways to help my mom out. At first, I had considered getting a part time job, but then I was floating in the East River, cleaning up the pollution and thinking, when I saw a necklace. I only brought it up to show Mom, but then I realized that I could probably find other things in the rivers and even the Upper bay to sell. I found loads of neat stuff, some of which I kept, and some that Mom helped me sell. At first, we tried to sell everything at pawn shops, but they kept offering way below what the value of the items was, and they kept asking too many questions.”

“They must have wondered whether you were the worlds youngest bank robber,” Grover joked.

“I was actually, legitimately, worried that they would think I was robbing places and call the police,” I responded, “After a few weeks Mom told me that she had found someone to help, I’m not sure how, but she had managed to get an appointment with a black-market antiquities dealer. Mom assured me that we could trust her, she even said that I should tell Cynthia about my powers.”

“Did you?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes,” I responded, “Cynthia was actually really helpful, she told me where I could find lots of valuable items in different bodies of water all over the world, then I would bring the items I didn’t want to keep to her, and she would sell them. Mom refused to take most of the money, but I give her enough to make the bills easier, the rest goes into my accounts.”

“Accounts, as in plural?” Annabeth asked.

“Yup,” I nodded, “Cynthia said that I should have multiple accounts in multiple banks for everything, just in case something happens to one, so I do. I have some for saving money for retirement, which is apparently super important. I have some to pay for school; cause I’m going to be going to school in Greece, it will cost a lot to get back and forth. I have a few accounts for quests. Plus, I have accounts for just regular spending and stuff.”

“Holy shit,” Grover muttered, and Annabeth nodded, “What kind of things do you find in the water?”

I could see why they were so surprised. Before I had started looking, I hadn’t considered how much expensive stuff was lost or thrown away in the ocean. “I found a lot of jewelry and precious metals and gems, which I usually give to Cynthia to sell. I also found some currency, like pretty much every type of currency imaginable. I’ve found a ton of old coins and things that are worth a lot, and even some antiques like statues and weapons and stuff. For a while Cynthia was sending me to lots of different areas of the ocean to look for old shipwrecks, but that took a lot of time. I’ve even found some godly stuff. I have a good collection of celestial bronze and imperial gold weapons and armor, I’ve got lots of godly currency, I have a bunch of blessed and cursed items, and I even found some sealed packages of ambrosia and nectar.”

Both Grover and Annabeth looked in awe. 

“What do you do with all the extra demigod things?” Grover asked, looking intrigued, “You can’t really sell them, can you?”

“You can,” I confirmed, “I’m not sure where Cynthia finds the buyers, but there’s actually a pretty good market for them. I know that some gods will buy pretty much anything they find interesting, and camp will sometimes buy some of the weapons and armor. There are a good number of demigods and their descendants out there that want to buy weapons and blessed or cursed items.”

“What kind of blessed items are we talking about,” Annabeth asked, “and why would they buy cursed things?”

“For the blessed items, it can be anything.” I explained, “I’ve found blessed jewelry, blessed furniture, blessed statues, I even found a blessed frying pan once. For the cursed items, it’s a little different. Most people want those for guarding something or even just to try and get rid of your enemies. So, things like cursed statues that will terrify anyone who comes into the room, or jewelry that will give the wearer bad luck, or weapons that will always miss their target are really popular.”

“That seems, um, questionable…” Annabeth said, “And what did you mean by a blessed frying pan? What would a blessed frying pan even do? Be really good at hitting people over the head?”

“No.” I looked at Annabeth strangely, “It’s blessed to never burn what you’re cooking. Why would you think it was meant to hit someone? Where did you even get that idea? It’s a frying pan, for gods sake.”

Annabeth turned pink and Grover started laughing.

“Do I want to know?” I asked, confused.

“No, you really don’t. Now let’s get to breakfast, we’re going to be late.” Annabeth said, as she dragged Grover away to the dining pavilion.

We were the first ones to breakfast and had to wait over 20 minutes for everyone else. I couldn’t help thinking that Annabeth really didn’t want to talk about frying pans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you guys think? Annabeth was a bit distracted and didn't realize that Percy said they dated, what do you think will be her reaction?
> 
> I also wanted to get everyone's opinions. I already have a relationship planned for Percy in the future (not with Annabeth), but I realized that I forgot to think about who Annabeth should be with. If any of you have any thoughts on who Annabeth should date (in the future, like not until she is at least 14ish), please let me know.
> 
> Make sure to let me know any questions or comments.
> 
> Thanks,  
> PickledPotatoPancakes97


	7. Chapter 6, We Get A (Way Too Early) Quest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Sorry for only posting 1 chapter last week. Unfortunately the same thing will be happening this week. Something went wrong with my computer last weekend and I had to wait for it to be fixed. Luckily most of my professors were understanding and let me have a bit of extra time for my projects, but now I'm spending most of my time trying to frantically catch up on all my schoolwork.

After breakfast I was trying out all the activities with the rest of the cabins.

Yesterday, Chiron had told me that I would be spending this week just trying out all the activities with different cabins, then, next week, I could choose my own schedule. Unfortunately, most of the other campers were avoiding me, due to the whole ‘child of the big three’ thing, so I was doing most of my activities on the outskirts of the groups. I had really hoped that I would be able to get to know people better, but I guess that I will have to wait until everyone gets used to me.

I had just finished archery with the Apollo cabin, which consisted of me standing in the lane farthest to the right, shooting at a target that was much closer than everyone else’s. 

‘At least I’m better than I was in my first life,’ I couldn’t help but thinking. 

In my first life, I had been terrible at archery, but after the Titan war I had spent a lot of time practicing. I still wasn’t great, especially compared to the children of Apollo, but I was decent. None of the arrows went backwards, and most of the time I even hit the target. I know it’s not much, but in my first archery lesson I’m pretty sure I hit Chiron’s tail so…

I was heading over to the arena, for sword fighting, when Grover caught up to me.

“Hey Percy!” He called, as he ran over to me.

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Chiron wanted me to find you,” Grover said, “He said that he needed to talk to you about something.”

I couldn’t help thinking that that seemed odd. I had barely spoken to Chiron since I had gotten back. We didn’t really have a relationship in this timeline, he had only known me for a few days rather than having spent the last year being my teacher. I had been hoping to get to know him better in this timeline, but I had no idea how.

“Ok, sure,” I told Grover, “Did he say what he wanted to talk about?”

Grover looked nervous, “Well… um, he said… uh, I think I better let him tell you.”

I gave Grover a concerned look, he seemed really stressed.

As Grover and I walked over to the big house, I tried to think of what could be up with him, he’s almost as nervous as when I got my first quest, but that couldn’t be right. It’s what, May 20th? My quest doesn’t happen for almost a month. Anyways, I haven’t been here long enough, Chiron wouldn’t send someone on a quest when they haven’t even been here a week. Right?

Chiron probably wanted to see how I was settling in to camp. Making sure that everything was alright with me and seeing if I needed any help, after all, I was alone in my cabin, I didn’t have a head counselor to help me. That’s all this was.

“Ah, Percy,” Chiron greeted, as we climbed the steps, onto the porch. “Please, come sit. Now, how are you doing this morning?”

“I’m good,” I replied. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m as well as can be,” Chiron sighed, “Do you know why I asked you here?”

“No sir,” I said.

“Have you ever fought a monster, Percy?” Chiron asked, leaning towards me.

I was startled, that seemed like a random question to ask. Of course, I had fought monsters, I was a demigod! And not just any demigod, I was a child of the big three. Even though I’m physically 12, monsters came after me like crazy. Even in my first life, when I didn’t know about the gods, I still had lots of random encounters with monsters, the mist just helped to hide them. 

I decided to play it safe with my answer.

“Yes sir,” I said, “Usually one or two monsters find me every month.”

“One or two every month!” I heard Annabeth’s voice yelp. I looked around for her and saw her appear, taking off her Yankees cap, “You’re telling me that you fight over a dozen monsters, every year?”

I nodded, “It’s gone up in the last few years. Until I was 8, I would usually only see a few each year and I wouldn’t have to fight them. After that, it started with one or two a year, until it got up to this.”

Annabeth gave me a look, and I knew that she had put it together. The monster attacks starting correlated with me coming back in time.

“Tell us about them,” Chiron requested, “What kinds of monsters and how you did fight them?”

“Um, well, there were lots of types,” I explained. “Mostly things like dracaenae, hellhounds and empousai, though I’ve run into a few cyclops’s and laistrygonian giants before, among other stuff.”

I could see Chiron’s eyebrows rising. I knew it must sound weird, after all, what kind of 12-year-old demigod gets attacked by that many monsters. What I had left out was that I had gone looking for a lot of those monsters. I had tried to keep a low profile when I had first gotten to the past. I had tried to avoid any monsters and not stir up trouble, but I couldn’t sit around all day and train. It had been slowly driving me crazy. So, I had kept an eye out for any monsters around New York and had, ahem, taken care of them.

“Then I guess you are more ready than I expected. Tell me Percy, have you noticed what’s been happening with the weather lately?” Chiron asked.

“Yes sir,” I responded.

“And what do you think has been causing it?” Chiron was staring at me, looking incredibly serious.

“Something was stolen from Zeus,” I pretended to guess, “A weapon, I think, and he blames Poseidon, my dad.”

Chiron looked startled.

“I’ve been having dreams about it, for months,” I tried to explain. It could look really bad if I knew too much without giving any reason as to why. I didn’t want Chiron to think that Zeus was right, and that I really had stolen then Master Bolt.

“That is correct, my boy,” Chiron said, frowning, “Zeus’s Master Bolt was stolen during the last winter solstice meeting. He had left it on his throne during a break in the meeting, and when came back, the bolt was gone. But Zeus blames more than just Poseidon for the theft, he also blames you.”

“But I didn’t take the bolt. I wasn’t even on Olympus,” I argued, “Oaths on the River Styx can’t be broken, right? So, can’t I just swear on the river that I didn’t take the Master Bolt?”

I knew that there wasn’t much of a chance of that working, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. Maybe that would even make me seem more believable and trustworthy to Chiron (and any spying gods). 

“I’m afraid that that isn’t possible,” Chiron sighed, “Zeus has already made up his mind, and it will be very hard to change it. That is why I propose this solution. You shall go on a quest to retrieve Zeus’s Master Bolt and return it to him on Olympus.”

“You’re really sending him on a quest?” Annabeth sounded excited.

I didn’t know what to say, this was too early. But I couldn’t turn the quest down, I needed to go! 

“I accept.” I replied.

“Then it's time you consulted the Oracle,” Chiron said. “Go upstairs, to the attic and when you come back down, we will talk more.”

***

I couldn’t stop thinking on the way up to the attic. This wasn’t right, I wasn’t supposed to get my quest yet. It’s only May, todays only my third day at camp. I was changing too much, and I didn’t know how to fix it!

I tried to calm down, panicking right now wouldn’t help anything. I just needed to stay calm and focus.

I finished climbing the steps and reached for the cord to pull the attic ladder down. I really hadn’t missed the way the old Oracle was set up, back when I was a kid. I mean who thought that keeping the Oracle hidden in the attic was a good idea?

That’s when I remembered that the Oracle was a mummy. 

I hadn’t missed having a mummy Oracle, I don’t think anyone did. I’m actually pretty sure that I blocked this out of my mind when I was a kid. I mean, I get that Hades was mad, but dude, don’t make us all suffer. 

‘Maybe I can talk to him on my quest?’ I thought, ‘If I reason with him, maybe he’ll remove his curse early.’

Except I knew he wouldn’t. Luckily, I was already planning on getting Nico and Bianca out of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Nico might not be much help with moving the Oracle, he’d probably think it was cool as a mummy, but I’m sure Bianca would see reason. I may not have known her for long, but she seemed like a reasonable person, and more importantly, someone who would have Hades wrapped around her little finger.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, that I hadn’t even noticed that I had gotten up to the attic and was face to face with the Oracle. She was sitting on a stool near the window, as if she wanted a good view to look out over the strawberry fields of camp, and she was dressed like a hippie; tie-dyed dress and headband, wearing what had to be a dozen beaded necklaces. I looked at her necklaces and couldn’t help but remembering that one of them contained the great prophesy.

I couldn’t remember what I had said last time, so I figured I should just go with my gut. After all, flattery always seemed to work when Rachel was the Oracle. I think. I hadn’t actually gotten a prophesy from Rachel in years. Not since I was what, 19? 20? I don’t remember.

“Oh, great and powerful Oracle of Delphi, please tell me my prophesy.” There, that sounded good enough.

Green mist blew out of the Oracle’s mouth and started to collect in a ball in front of me. I saw the mist-ball form into shapes and my stomach dropped. There, looking out from the mist, were some of my friends from the future. Sitting at a table, were Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, and Jason. They looked just like I remembered, from before the last battle we ever fought together. 

Mist Annabeth stood up and delivered the first line, “You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,”

Mist Hazel stared at me and said, “You shall find what was solen and see it safely returned,”

Mist Frank put his arm around Mist Hazels shoulder before continuing, “But beware the changes you will make for a friend,”

Finally, mist Jason stood up and walked over to me. He reached for my hand, while he delivered the last line, “Or the world may go down in flames, in the end.”

As soon as the last word came out of Jason’s mouth, they all started to dissolve.

I wanted to scream at them to wait, to stay with me, but I knew it was useless. They weren’t real. I finally got to see my friends again, just as they were before the battle, and now they’re gone. I felt like I had lost them all over again. 

That’s when I realized; the prophesy had changed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think of the chapter? Did you like the changes I made to the prophesy? Let me know in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.


	8. Chapter 7, The New Prophesy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last I present to you, Chapter Seven!

I climbed down from the attic in a daze. Half the prophesy had changed! I hadn’t prepared for this.

The prophesy was supposed to be…

'You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,  
You shall find what was solen and see it safely returned,  
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,  
And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.'

I knew what it all meant, and I had everything planned out. Me, Annabeth, and Grover would get a train to Denver and wait for Ares to come and give us his quest. I’d confront Ares about having the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness and challenge him to a duel for them. Once I got them, me, Annabeth, and Grover would get another train to Las Vegas. In Vegas we would find the Lotus Hotel and Casino and get Nico and Bianca di Angelo out. I’d rent us a car to get us to Los Angeles, where the entrance to the underworld is. Nico and Bianca could help us get past Charon and into the underworld. Then we’d give Hades his Helm back and tell him Ares had it, swearing on the River Styx, if necessary. After that, all we would have to do was get back to New York with the Master Bolt and give it back to Zeus. Easy.

But now that was all down the drain!

Or was it? Could the plan still work? Could we still do any of that? Maybe. After all, the first 2 lines had stayed the same, and those were the only 2 that we needed.

Maybe it was even a good thing that the rest of the prophesy had changed. I mean, ‘You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end’ were the worst lines of my first prophesy. They were talking about me failing to save my mother and Luke joining Kronos. My mother doesn’t need saving this time, thank the gods, but what about Luke? Maybe he won’t betray the gods?

No, that can’t be right. Luke already betrayed the gods, he stole the Helm and Master Bolt months ago, he’s already a traitor. So why did that part of the prophesy change? Will Luke not betray me? Why? And what do the new lines mean?

‘But beware the changes you will make for a friend’?

That sounds bad, what changes does it mean? Am I going to royally screw something up trying to save the world? What else could it be talking about? And what about the other line?

‘Or the world may go down in flames, in the end’.

That one sounds even worse. This isn’t even supposed to be a big prophesy, so why is it talking about the end of the world? Is it talking about the next big prophesy, the first one with Gaea? That one had a similar line; ‘To storm or fire the world must fall’. Am I supposed to find Leo? Is Leo going to destroy the world?

No, it says may, not will. So, Leo might destroy the world? Or maybe he’ll just defeat Gaea again? But Gaea hasn’t risen yet! Am I thinking too much into this or too far ahead? What else could this be referring to?

Ugh, I HATE prophesies. Nothing makes any sense!

***

By the time I got back down to the porch, I had gotten myself quite frustrated with the new lines of the prophesy. 

“Ah, Percy, you have returned,” Chiron asked, “What did the Oracle have to say?”

I noticed that Mr. D had joined him, Grover and Annabeth, and that they were all looking at me expectantly. I figured that there wasn’t much point in hiding anything, I may as well tell him the full prophesy. Better to put those rumors about Hades being the thief to bed quickly.

I cleared my throat, it was suddenly really dry, “The Oracle said…  
‘You shall go west and face the god who has turned.   
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned,  
But beware the changes that you will make for a friend,  
Or the world may go down in flames, in the end.’”

“Well, that makes our first step quite clear,” Chiron said, “You must go west and find a god that had betrayed Olympus.” 

“That’s not very helpful,” Annabeth interrupted, “How will Percy know what god the prophesy is talking about and where they could be? We’re on the east coast, pretty much everything and everyone is west of here.”

“Ah, think Annabeth,” Chiron said, “If there is a war between Zeus and Poseidon, then who stands to gain?”

“It isn’t Hades,” I declared.

“Percy, Hades has a lot to gain from this war. He has held a grudge ever since he was stuck with the underworld when the world was divided eons ago, he was forced into an oath by his brothers, both of whom have now broken the oath, and he would grow even stronger from the scores of dead that would join his kingdom, if a war were to break out.” Chiron insisted. 

“It isn’t him; I’ve had dreams that prove it,” I lied. I knew I shouldn’t lie to Chiron about this, but I needed him to believe me. “I’ve been having dreams about this since before I came to camp. The person who stole Zeus’s Master Bolt also took Hades Helm of Darkness. He’s trying to keep it quiet so that none of the other gods will take advantage of his symbol of power being missing, but he needs me to get it back for him.”

Chiron looked thoughtful. I figured that if I implied that Hades was the one who told me all of this and that he wanted me on a quest to retrieve his Helm, that Chiron might believe me more. I mean, technically Hades did need me to get his Helm back, he just didn’t know it yet. Everything I had said about the situation was true.

“Plus,” I added, “Hades didn’t know that Dad had broken the oath when the Master Bolt was stolen, so that takes away one of his biggest potential motives.”

“If not Hades, then who do you suspect?” Chiron asked.

“I’m not sure, I think that our best bet is to head west and see who we find.” Or who finds us.

“Very well,” Chiron agreed, “The prophesy does say that you’ll succeed, so I guess that should be fine. Now for your fellow ques-”

“Now wait a minute,” Mr. D interrupted angrily, “Are we not going to mention that the boy might destroy the world? It’s one thing if he risks himself and his friends, but what about the rest of us? I certainly don’t want my existence to be cut short because of a measly demigod!”

“This is Percy’s quest,” Chiron reasoned, “What to do and where to go are up to him, and as for him being a threat to the world, he is merely a child. I think we are safe.”

Mr. D cut Chiron off, “Safe? This ‘child’ could be the cause of Olympus’s destruction! He is a son of Poseidon, not only is he in line for the Great Prophesy, the first prophesy he ever gets even says that he could destroy us all. You know the prophesy as well as I do Chiron ‘Olympus to preserve or raze’?”

“Dionysus,” Chiron snapped, “That is enough.”

Mr. D must have realized what he had said, because went pale and disappeared in a burst of purple mist.

***

Chiron ushered me, Annabeth and Grover out of the big house after Mr. D’s outburst, saying that we had better go and get packed for our quest. Apparently, Argus would be driving us into New York early the next morning.

I spent more time thinking than I did packing, only taking a quick break for lunch. 

I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Mr. D had revealed part of the Great Prophesy to me! What did that mean? What would that change?

I couldn’t help wondering if I should tell Chiron that I knew the rest of the prophesy as well. I could always claim that I had heard it in a dream. And it wouldn’t even be a lie, I had had more nightmares than I could count about that prophesy. But if I told Chiron, would he tell the gods? What would the gods do? Would they kill me, thinking that I was too dangerous? They’re certainly paranoid enough to.

What should I do?

I was about to go and find Annabeth, she would know what to do, when I heard someone knocking on my cabin door.

I walked over to see who it was and found Annabeth already there.

“Perfect timing,” I said, waving her in, “I was just about to come find you.”

“You were?” Annabeth looked surprised, “Are you having trouble with your packing?”

“No, well yes, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you,” I explained, “Are you not worried about Mr. D revealing part of the Great Prophesy?”

Annabeth shrugged, “I mean, I guess him being that angry was a bit scary, he is a god after all, but I already know the prophesy, I figured you did as well.”

“I do, but this wasn’t how I found out. In my first life I didn’t find out what the prophesy said until I was 15. All I knew was that a prophesy existed that talked about a child of one of the Big Three who would have the power to destroy Olympus, and that everyone thought it would be me and that I would die. I didn’t even find out most of that until I was 15, didn’t hear a single line of the thing until a few weeks before I turned 16.”

“Oh,” Annabeth had gone slightly pale, “That’s a pretty major change.”

“Ya, you can see why I’m a bit concerned.” I said, “I’m wondering if I should just tell him that I know the full prophesy, say I heard it in a dream or something.”

“Is that really a good idea?” Annabeth asked, “I love Chiron and I don’t think he’d do anything to purposefully hurt us, but he’d probably tell the gods, and who knows what they’d do.”

I nodded, “That was my thinking, but I wasn’t sure if I was being paranoid or not.”

“I think it’s probably best to keep your knowledge of the prophesy to yourself, at least for now.” Annabeth agreed, “Now how are you doing on packing? Do you have everything ready yet?”

“Uh, not really,” I said. “I started to make a list of what to pack, but I haven’t really gotten far.”

I handed Annabeth my list.

Annabeth took it and started reading, “Ok, backpack, good. 2 jeans, ok. 4 shirts, 4 socks, 4 underwear, journal, pen and notebook. That’s all you have?” Annabeth asked, looking up.

“Well, I’m not done yet,” I defended.

Annabeth shook her head in exasperation, “Just start gathering everything you put down already, and I’ll finish your list.”

I quickly went about gathering everything I had already written, along with a few extra’s. I made sure that I had also grabbed my wallet and bag of drachma’s, and my knives, sword and trident. 

Once I finished, Annabeth glanced over everything I had grabbed.

“I think you have almost everything,” She said, “Just make sure you bring some ambrosia and nectar, and maybe some books to keep you occupied.”

“I don’t think I’m going to bring my textbooks,” I admitted, “Last time we lost all our supplies on the first day of the quest, and while I’m hoping we won’t be repeating that, I’d rather leave my textbooks where they are safe. I really need them for school and don’t want them to be destroyed.”

“Good point, maybe I’ll leave mine here too.”

“I think we’ll have more than enough to do on the quest just keeping an eye out for monsters, not to mention that I still need to tell you and Grover about the rest of my life.”

I went to grab my backpack and start packing everything into it when Annabeth grabbed my arm. “I spoke to Grover on the way to your cabin, the three of us are going to meet this evening to talk about our plan for the quest, ok?”

“That’s fine,” I assured her, “Did you want to meet in my cabin?”

“That would be best, I’ll go let Grover know and you can finish packing.”

“Alright,” I agreed, “See you at dinner.”

“See you at dinner,” Annabeth said, before leaving.

After I finished packing, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon thinking about what this new prophesy could mean for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think?
> 
> I had a bit of trouble with this chapter and ended up rewriting it about 3 times, so let me know if you like it.


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